Thursday, October 27, 2016

Salvaging: Safety First

So, I cut myself the other day salvaging parts from an old dishwasher somebody left on the parkside. It wasn't that bad, or at least that's what I tell myself. I should have been wearing my work gloves, but it was one of those cliche thoughts, "What could go wrong?" I mean, I don't like being paranoid, and it really did seem unlikely that I would generate enough force to put a 1/8" deep cut in my finger just from pulling off the electric motor. Before you ask, yes I unscrewed it first. Maybe it was from doing it at 5:30 in the morning. It was dark. Maybe it's like the darkside. It's dark so the metal is more dangerous. Maybe it was like my cave moment. Or maybe the dishwasher was cursed!

I guess my hand hit the metal framing at the bottom and that was enough to cut it. I was dumbfounded when I looked at my finger. Blood was flowing. My first reaction was to try to put pressure on it, but I decided to let the blood flow a little bit to make sure any dirt or crud would come out. I mean, it was bleeding pretty substantially, but I had enough sense to know that it wasn't so bad that it wouldn't stop on its own. I busted out the first aid kit when I got home, and put antibacteria cream on it and a bandage. Now, of course, I wear gloves over the bandage, even a pair of vinyl gloves for when I do dishes, and, of course, the lesson here is, always wear gloves when doing your salvage jobs!